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Post by sashimi on Jun 25, 2009 9:38:05 GMT -5
My opinion is that this is a very sick and twisted game of chicken.
There will unfortunately be some cuts in some of these services, but no way that the State is going to make the deep custs that they have threatened to date. Do not get me wrong...many state workers will loose their jobs and there will be difficult cuts made in both social and non-social services. I also think there will be a more modest income tax increase.
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Post by momto4 on Jun 28, 2009 18:32:13 GMT -5
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/news/sherman/1635650,2_4_AU24_SHERMAN_S1-090624.article Budget challenge: Help those who need it most by Deena Bess Sherman June 24, 2009 Mahatma Ghandi once said, "A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members." On Friday I saw and heard a lot of people outside the Association for Individual Development building in Aurora who wished to apply this same standard to the state of Illinois and it's battle over the budget. As our state legislators struggle to balance our budget before the first of July, they have some tough decisions to make. State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia asked the crowd gathered for the rally where the state can make cuts -- Education? Law Enforcement? Mutual Ground? She suggested that it's time to vote for a tax enhancement to cover the services that people need. State Sen. Chris Lauzen, in a short but politically brilliant speech, suggested that Springfield politicians -- just like the people who receive state services for various addictions -- have addictions of their own. They are addicted to money and power. They are addicted to waste, fraud, and corruption. "How do you treat addiction?" he asked the crowd, "by giving the addicted person more or by changing the behavior?" "Change the behavior," people answered in unison. "We all pay our taxes to take care of those who need us most," Lauzen said. "We need to cut pork rather than people. We need to cut fraud rather than people. We need to cut waste rather than people." He explained that between 2002 and 2008 tax revenue in Illinois was up $6 billion, yet social services have been strangled. The people who are most in need are asked to make the greatest sacrifices. So after the rally, I spoke with the senator and asked for some specific things that he considered wasteful. He told me about Carol Adams, the secretary for the Department of Human Services, who not only has her own personal driver, but her chief of staff has one as well. While that in itself seems pretty wasteful and unnecessary, it gets much worse. Apparently the driver unsuccessfully sued the chief of staff for sexual harassment and the state will pay the bill for much of that. Lauzen knew about this line item in the budget because he served as co-chair on the audit commission. To give me another example of waste, he mentioned the $5 million allocated for 4H in Cook County. While he assured me that he thought 4H to be a very worthy organization, he wondered out loud how many farmers there really are in Cook County. I hope Lauzen and others will find enough unnecessary spending to offset cuts. The trouble is what looks like pork to one person may look like a necessary program to another. If you'd like to take a look at the budget yourself and make some suggestions to our elected officials, you can find it at www.state.il.us/budget. It will take a few minutes to load because it's 482 pages long. Take a look and let your representatives know which things you feel could be cut and which ones need to stay. I hope our politicians can then find ways to spend that money on the things we value most. Many years ago, in his last speech, Hubert H. Humphrey said, " ... The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped." I hope in the coming days, the state of Illinois passes that test.
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Post by asmodeus on Jun 28, 2009 22:38:07 GMT -5
That's a new phrase I hadn't heard before.
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Post by title1parent on Jun 30, 2009 5:42:04 GMT -5
www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=303691&src=76District 204 group pushing to maintain special needs fundingBy Justin Kmitch | Daily Herald 6/30/09 Illinois' first and largest special needs Parent Teacher Association may quickly shrink if state legislators approve a budget with threatened cuts to social and human services, officials say. If the proposed "doomsday budget" from Gov. Pat Quinn goes through, as many as 16 agencies that help everyone from battered women and at-risk children to the homeless and severely disabled would struggle to keep their doors open or close completely when $10 million-plus in state aid is cut. Quinn said he had a legal responsibility to propose the budget when lawmakers rejected a budget-balancing tax increase last month, even though he now says he won't make those cuts. He said he doesn't support the proposed budget and will not allow such cuts to become a reality. "I was always opposed to that," Quinn told reporters. But Lori Price, president of the Indian Prairie Unit District 204 special needs PTA, said she fears families of the district's 4,000 special needs students could be left without vital services for their children as early as Wednesday. If that happens, some parents, including Naperville's Karen Jacobsen, say they'll be forced to move out of state to find better care for their children. She says she'd rather see a slight tax increase than go through trying to sell her home and move. Jacobsen and her husband pay more $20,000 annually for services to help their 9-year-old daughter overcome a severe learning disability caused by a brain injury she was born with. The family was in the process of being approved for a $1,300 monthly waiver to help defray those costs but that process has been delayed. "It could be traumatic to uproot our daughter from the school, teachers and neighborhood that she knows but it is a very real possibility that we may need to leave Illinois to find a state that has what we need," she said. "It's a shame that legislators would even consider laying this burden at the feet of those who have the least and need the most." Along with the waiver, one of the programs parents are concerned about losing is respite care reimbursement that pays for up to 15 hours of qualified day care a month for parents of children with special needs. Aside from early intervention programs, Prairie Children Preschool parent Lorrie Willems said respite care is one of the most important services for parents in her situation. Willems' 4-year-old daughter suffers from Angelman Syndrome, which causes her to be nonverbal and have the mental capacity of an infant. She also has a fear of the family car. "That respite time is invaluable because it gives me time to go to the grocery store, do things we need to get done and spend time with my 10-year-old son," Willem said. "The attention and care needed for my daughter sometimes causes him to miss out so I try to spend as much one-on-one time with him as well." Price said stories like these are prevalent across the state but she hopes support from her association will lend some credence to the necessity of the programs. "As the first and largest special needs PTA in the state of Illinois, we hope to make an impact on lawmakers," she said. The association met Thursday to discuss the details of the state budget and voted unanimously to oppose any cuts to human services. "If a person can't walk, no one hesitates to put them in a wheelchair, but if a person can't speak we need to give them the tools they need to teach them how to speak," she said. "Without these services or tools, these children will not have the chance to be independent, productive adults and that will end up costing the state more money in the long run." Price said PTA members have been making telephone calls to legislators, e-mailing state budget officials and writing letters to anyone who will read them. Aside from Republican state Rep. Darlene Senger attending their meetings, Price said form letters and a promise to pass her comments on to Quinn have been the only response.
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Post by asmodeus on Jun 30, 2009 9:01:55 GMT -5
Respite time?
Whatever happened to asking family or friends to watch the child while you go shopping? I know there are some who have nobody whom they can ask, but in my opinion, creating an entire program of "respite care" (with paid providers instead of volunteers) seems unnecessary for the vast majority of people. It's an example of how government programs grow bigger and bigger until people who don't even need them end up using and eventually becoming dependent on them.
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Post by eb204 on Jun 30, 2009 9:32:18 GMT -5
Respite time? Whatever happened to asking family or friends to watch the child while you go shopping? I know there are some who have nobody whom they can ask, but in my opinion, creating an entire program of "respite care" (with paid providers instead of volunteers) seems unnecessary for the vast majority of people. It's an example of how government programs grow bigger and bigger until people who don't even need them end up using and eventually becoming dependent on them. Oftentimes, the child's needs are so great that friends or even family cannot meet the child's needs. In some cases, friends and family just won't touch that situation with a 10ft. pole, sad to say. In other cases, "respite" also includes social work, community outings and other life skills. Respite should not be confused with babysitting. To the average person, it may appear to be a glorified term for babysitting, but to those who live it everyday, respite serves a variety of purposes.
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Post by asmodeus on Jun 30, 2009 9:54:13 GMT -5
Respite time? Whatever happened to asking family or friends to watch the child while you go shopping? I know there are some who have nobody whom they can ask, but in my opinion, creating an entire program of "respite care" (with paid providers instead of volunteers) seems unnecessary for the vast majority of people. It's an example of how government programs grow bigger and bigger until people who don't even need them end up using and eventually becoming dependent on them. Oftentimes, the child's needs are so great that friends or even family cannot meet the child's needs. In some cases, friends and family just won't touch that situation with a 10ft. pole, sad to say. In other cases, "respite" also includes social work, community outings and other life skills. Respite should not be confused with babysitting. To the average person, it may appear to be a glorified term for babysitting, but to those who live it everyday, respite serves a variety of purposes. I don't have an issue with it if the child's needs require a trained caregiver, but if it's like many other government programs, the initial target group eventully broadens to recipients who don't really need it.
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Post by title1parent on Jul 1, 2009 4:44:19 GMT -5
www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=303964&src=76Human service agencies begin layoffsBy Robert McCoppin | Daily Herald 7/1/09 On the last day before the state budget expired, one Aurora social services agency laid off 80 workers and told 1,100 clients with developmental and mental health disabilities that they would lose services. Other agencies also were moving ahead with cutbacks. Workers and families alike cried upon hearing the news of layoffs and program cuts at the Association for Individual Development in Aurora, president and CEO Lynn O'Shea said. "This," she said, "is the blackest day in the history of our agency." The agency had to agree to the elimination of $3 million in state contracts, or else the state threatened to take away its Medicaid-funded programs as well, she said. As a result, people with disabilities will lose job training, coaching and counseling, mental health counseling and medication management. The cuts affect group homes and individuals in assisted living in Batavia, Geneva, St. Charles and Elgin. Some who do light packaging assembly will lose their jobs in a week, O'Shea said, and will likely lose their apartments. In response, a federal lawsuit was filed Tuesday by Equip for Equality, a federally authorized advocate for people with disabilities. The lawsuit seeks to stop the budget cuts on the grounds they violate the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. Rather than making immediate cuts in services, some agencies are trying to cut discretional spending but keep staff and programs. Little City Foundation in Palatine is doing that, but Executive Director Shawn Jeffers warned a proposed state budget to provide funding at about 50 percent of current levels would devastate people with mental and physical disabilities, including kids with autism who need housing and can't be taught in mainstream schools. The loss of $6 to $8 million would close the agency's family program and cripple its foster care, as well as community centers and children's group homes, he said. "In over 30 years of being in this field, never have I seen anything so reckless being proposed," Jeffers said. "We have to make sure that Illinois does the right thing."
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Post by asmodeus on Jul 1, 2009 8:35:40 GMT -5
I'm sure he is referring to the lack of a tax increase, but I would say the same thing about the lack of any spending cuts.
Take the free rides for seniors -- I'm sure when someone finally comes to their senses and revokes that ridiculous freebie, there will be people picketing and whining about how we are so cruel. Yet a year or so ago, no one was even CONSIDERING giving free rides to seniors -- until Blago decided to pander.
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Post by brant on Jul 1, 2009 9:10:01 GMT -5
I have two special needs kids that have been attending school in the district going on 11 years. Yes these cuts will be devestating; more they anyone can imagine. One terrible statistic is that almost 90% (thats right almost 90%) of parents of special needs kids get divorced because the pressure is so incredable. Outside services cost and it is not uncommon to morgage the homes or having to move into smaller homes and even apartments for pay for their childs needs. But the emotional toll is a killer and is socially isolating. You feel unwanted and kids won't have anything to do with yours.
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Post by asmodeus on Jul 1, 2009 10:20:40 GMT -5
This is where I think part of the disconnect comes from. Let's say you have a family with an income of $125k and they live in a $400k home. Then they give birth to a special needs child. If the child needs "outside services," should the taxpayers pay x number of dollars so the family can stay in the $400k house, or should the family move to a more modest house or apartment?
I sympathize with the stress that these situations put on people, but I don't think it's society's job to ensure that someone's standard of living doesn't drop because they have a special needs child.
This of course is a generalization; I am just responding to your point about moving into a smaller home. That is probably what shouldhappen, as unfortunate as it is.
As for the 90% divorce rate, it is incredible -- though if the overall rate is over 50%, I guess it's not too hard to imagine. I read once that the divorce rate of people who lose a young child to illness or accident is also astronomical, which is kind of counter-intuitive. I thought the loss might pull them together but in fact it usually drives them apart.
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Post by brant on Jul 1, 2009 10:56:27 GMT -5
This is where I think part of the disconnect comes from. Let's say you have a family with an income of $125k and they live in a $400k home. Then they give birth to a special needs child. If the child needs "outside services," should the taxpayers pay x number of dollars so the family can stay in the $400k house, or should the family move to a more modest house or apartment? I sympathize with the stress that these situations put on people, but I don't think it's society's job to ensure that someone's standard of living doesn't drop because they have a special needs child. This of course is a generalization; I am just responding to your point about moving into a smaller home. That is probably what shouldhappen, as unfortunate as it is. As for the 90% divorce rate, it is incredible -- though if the overall rate is over 50%, I guess it's not too hard to imagine. I read once that the divorce rate of people who lose a young child to illness or accident is also astronomical, which is kind of counter-intuitive. I thought the loss might pull them together but in fact it usually drives them apart. I agree it is not society's job to save someones standard of living. I am just saying what happens. Illinois is a very poor state for special needs and disabled. We had friends in the Patterson area that had three special needs kids and they moved to Iowa where the services were far better. Kansas is another good one. If I could leave the Land of Lincoln I would in a heartbeat.
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Post by title1parent on Jul 2, 2009 6:31:26 GMT -5
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/1649121,6_1_NA02_STATEBUDGET_S1-090702.article For local agencies, doomsday is hereJuly 2, 2009 By CHRISTOPHER WILLS The Associated Press SPRINGFIELD -- Gov. Pat Quinn's veto of a makeshift budget Wednesday marks yet another round of uncertainty and frustration for Illinois taxpayers, from state workers who might not get a paycheck to poor families wondering if they'll lose day care and health services. That includes several in the Naperville area. "We do have a plan in place that does require the closing of the Glen Ellyn shelter," Family Shelter Services Executive Director Karen Kuchar said Wednesday. "It's gone past bare bones. It's really cutting into program capacity." The Wheaton-based agency provides services to victims of domestic violence, including shelter space, counseling and court advocacy. The agency receives a large chunk of its funding -- $800,000 of its $2.4 million budget -- from the Illinois Department of Human Services. The closing of the Glen Ellyn facility, expected to take place at the end of the month, would leave Family Shelter Services with one operating shelter in Downers Grove. The organization's Naperville site, which serves as intermediate housing for clients, remains a functioning program, Kuchar said. By closing the Glen Ellyn shelter, there will be fewer people available to answer the agency's hot line. The hot line receives 8,000 calls a year. Staff will convene Monday, she said, to discuss the agency's action plan, which includes layoffs, salary cuts and furlough time. The staff's salary will be cut by 10 percent, and everyone has been asked to take five furlough days, she said. "Our goal was to try to save as many people as we could, and people could stay on benefits so no one would be without health care," Kuchar said. In addition, agency is looking at cuts in administration and development, she said. Family Shelter Services serves about 300 clients in its shelter, 900 for counseling and education services and 2,000 for court services such as victim advocates and orders of protection. As of last week, there were 11 clients in the Glen Ellyn shelter, which has the capacity for 13. The Ray Graham Association's Bednorz Children's Respite Home in Lombard, a respite home for developmentally disabled youth, shut its doors Wednesday. A total of 98 families lost services. In addition, 520 other families who receive respite care in their own homes lost services, meaning that they may have to give up their jobs or other activities to provide for their disabled child. "What the public at large may not realize is that even though legislators are saying they will 'fix the budget' to fund human services, we received official notification from the state on June 12 telling us that we have no state contract beginning July 1 for our respite programs, supported living arrangement, and some of our employment programs," Ray Graham President and CEO Cathy Ficker Terrill said in a news release. "Our agency simply cannot afford to run programs when 100 percent of the funding has been cut." The threat of social service budget cuts are nothing new in Illinois. For the third straight time, Illinois government has entered a new budget year without having a budget in place. State officials, despite some new faces, still rely more on confrontation than cooperation, even amid the worst fiscal crisis in Illinois history. State Rep. Mike Connelly, R-Lisle, who represents the 48th District, said, "I think calling a well-educated group of men and women on both sides of the aisle childish is counter-productive," referring to public comments by Quinn Tuesday in threatening to veto a General Assembly-authored budget. (As promised, he did veto it Wednesday.) Things have gotten so twisted in Springfield that Quinn wound up opposing his own borrowing plan. And legislative leaders are likely to fight to revive a budget they didn't want in the first place. "I just think yesterday (Tuesday) was handled poorly by the governor," Connelly said. Lawmakers aren't scheduled to return to the Capitol for further discussions until July 14, roughly the same time that the first government paychecks would be interrupted. Quinn did not use his power to call a special session that would bring legislators back to Springfield more quickly. "I would anticipate we'll be back sooner rather than later," Connelly said. Legislators wound up passing a budget that didn't come close to covering normal government expenses. Quinn estimated the remaining deficit at about $9.2 billion and said restrictions imposed by legislators and federal rules would force him to cut most of that money out of state aid to local organizations that provide human services. For now, government will operate more or less normally. Sun reporter Kathy Cichon contributed to this report.
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Post by title1parent on Jul 2, 2009 6:40:07 GMT -5
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/1647126,Mutual-Ground-closes-shelter_AU070109.article Area agencies, their clients hit by crisisState budget impasse starts taking a toll on the Fox Valley July 2, 2009 From Staff Reports Jean Hess received the call Wednesday morning. The woman on the other end of the line told her that what she had been dreading was now a reality: The respite services she depended on from the Association for Individual Development had been terminated. She no longer would be able to afford part-time in-home care for her 11-year-old autistic son. "I feel that it's incredibly unfair," the Aurora woman said. "I'm being made a victim of my own life." She's not alone. On Wednesday, social service agencies across the state began grimly slashing their staff and programs, as the funding cuts they'd feared and rallied against came to pass. With the state budget in limbo, these agencies had been preparing for the worst. And with the General Assembly's failure to pass a full budget before the July 1 deadline, that worst-case scenario became real. In Aurora, Mutual Ground closed its 24-hour emergency shelter. Staffers hung a "closed" sign outside the women's abuse shelter before 10 a.m., according to Kristin Good, a prevention educator there. As of 6 p.m. Wednesday, the shelter had turned away eight women and four children. They were referred to other agencies, including Hesed House in Aurora and Elgin's Community Crisis Center. Some of those staying at the shelter when the cuts came down managed to find temporary housing with family, while others found apartments or moved into transitional living communities, Good said. Mutual Ground's two 24-hour hot lines for sexual abuse and domestic violence will remain open, Good said. Those hot lines are fully paid for through federal grants. Hesed House in Aurora has become, as some feared, the next stop for the community's abused women and children. The homeless shelter took in the last woman to leave Mutual Ground just as the doors to its overnight shelter closed Wednesday, said Hesed's Executive Director Ryan Dowd. Dowd has been meeting with Aurora police and Mutual Ground to work out security arrangements but still wasn't sure how it will all work. "We're not set up to be an impenetrable fortress for security," he said. Then there is the crowding issue, which likely will force Hesed to begin turning people away for the first time in the shelter's history. However, Dowd said it likely will take a few weeks or a few months for that problem to arise. The cuts for Family Focus of Aurora slashed deeper than staff expected, leaving most programs with less than half the needed funds. The organization laid off eight full-time staff Wednesday and eliminated its teen reach program, which assisted at-risk middle school and high school students, said Gonzalo Arroyo, center director. The Kane County Health Department plans staff reductions as early as next week, according to Executive Director Paul Kuehnert. And AID, which provides care for physically and mentally disabled people in six counties, laid off 55 people Wednesday and eliminated another 25 jobs it was hoping to fill. According to vice president Wanda Thomas, the cuts will leave about 1,000 people -- roughly one-fourth of AID's clientele -- without services. "We had parents crying to us on the phone today," Thomas said. "The legislators have left us stranded. Even if we recoup this money in two weeks, think of the impact on the families." Just before lawmakers left Springfield Tuesday night, the Senate rejected a bill that would appropriate $2.2 billion in pension funds to plug some of the holes left by a $9 billion budget deficit. It was the last crash-and-burn in a day full of them, and what remained was a temporary funding mechanism, passed in May, that saw social services funding cut in half. While those agencies made their deep cuts Wednesday, Gov. Pat Quinn vetoed the partial budget the General Assembly did pass. He took the opportunity to scold lawmakers again, saying the work on the budget would continue. Legislative leaders have called a special session for July 14, one day before Comptroller Dan Hynes is scheduled to send out the first state payroll checks of the new fiscal year. But unless those leaders can come to some compromise with Quinn, the age-old impasse -- new taxes versus spending cuts -- will remain. Quinn has proposed a 67 percent income tax increase to make up the state budget deficit, but Republicans such as state Rep. Kay Hatcher, R-Yorkville, are holding their ground, demanding an accounting of state funds and a move toward real spending reforms. And since the process has blown past the May 31 deadline, a two-thirds majority vote is required to pass the budget, meaning at least some Republicans will have to sign on. "We're not budging on the fact that we have to find out where the money is going before we take that extra step (of increasing taxes)," she said. Despite the failure to pass a full budget, state Sen. Linda Holmes, D-Aurora, believes the two-day special session brought the factions closer. She said she does not understand why the doomsday scenario is playing out, however -- the money the legislature approved in May would fully fund the state for six months, but Quinn is using it as a 12-month, 50 percent budget instead. A spokesman from Quinn's office said it would be "irresponsible" to only fund the state for six months, with no new revenue source in place. With doomsday now here, social service agencies have been on the phone to lawmakers all day to let them know just what their failure to act has caused. "Areas like mine were hit hard," said state Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, D-Aurora. "And even if the funding is restored, it's not easy to start those agencies back up after they close their doors." With much ground to cover, local legislators are not sure a one-afternoon special session will be enough to fix things. "The governor has to speak with the leaders," Chapa LaVia said. "They need to have a 'come to Jesus' meeting. We need a plan, and we don't have a plan at the state level." Staff writers Andre Salles, Christine S. Moyer and Rowena Vergara contributed to this story.
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Post by wvhsparent on Jul 2, 2009 8:45:33 GMT -5
IMHO They all should stay in Springfield until they get a budget passed. Oh, they do not get extra pay for the overtime session.
We've paid them all enough already to get very little done, they (Legislators) do not deserve any extra.
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